Location of Economic Activities/Urban Land Use

Models AP HUG

The Location of Industry and Urban Land Use Models

AP HUG

The Formal and Informal Economies

• Urban economies may be classified as formal or informal.

• Both types exist together and universally • Informal economies employ approximately

60% of the Urban population in South America and Asia and more than 70% in Africa.

• Formal Economy – Qualifications and

training required– Set hours of work and

pay – Job security and legal

protection – Pensions and

unemployment benefits– Well-serviced and built

premises– High technology

• Examples– Bank clerk – Teacher– Plumber – Lawyer – Police officer

• Informal Economy – No qualifications or

training required – Unregulated hours and

pay – No job security, no legal

protection – No pensions, no job

protection – Small premises,

sometimes domestic – Labor intensive – Barter of cash transfers – Some illegal business

• Examples: – Fruit vendor – Rickshaw puller – Barber – Taxi driver – Waste-picker

The advantages of the Informal Economy

• Has provided many semi-skilled migrants with immediate work • The informal economy plays a vital role in the developing urban

economies of many low and middle income countries • In Angola, setting up a legal business takes 13 procedures, 124

days and 500% of the average income of an Angolan • In the US, it takes 5 procedures, 5 days, and .7% of the average

income of an American• Informal economy makes a large contribution to urban wealth • Informal and formal are interdependent. Goods produced in

informal are often sold to formal.

Disadvantages of the Informal Economy

• Some illegal activities: drugs, prostitution, corruption, bribery, smuggling.

• Turns away potential visitors- lowers image• Health and safety risks for workers

The Central Business District

• The CBD: the commercial and economic core of a city

• The heart of the city• the area most accessible to public transport• the location with the highest land values.

Characteristics

• Parking.• Transport Terminals.• Wholesalers/Warehouses.• Small Shops.• Concentration of Banks/Businesses.• Offices.• Department/Chain Stores.• Car Sales/Services.• Medical/Fire Services.

Land use patterns:

• Towns and cities do not grow in a haphazard way but tend to develop recognizable shapes and patterns.

• Each town is unique and will have developed its own distinctive pattern, it will also show some characteristics shared by other urban settlements.

We can show this pattern by using a MODEL – a simplified picture.

This is an URBAN MODEL to show the different land use within a town or city.

Each different colour sector represents a different type of land use.

Urban Land Use Models• Burgess Model• Hoyt Model • Multiple Nuclei Model

Burgess Model: Concentric Zone Model

Inner city

Suburbs

Land use models – Concentric Zone Model/Burgess Model

original settlement

Burgess based his studies on Chicago in the 1920s. He claimed that most towns and cities grow outwards from an old center and equally in all directions.

Evaluation: For

• If taken as a very broad pattern, then a large number of towns and cities follow the pattern identified by Burgess.

• It is good model because it is simple and easy to understand.

• Burgess could not have foreseen the changes in transport routes or society yet his model is still relevant when identifying the reasons behind the urban morphology of a city.

• It helps us to understand the process involved in the growth of a city.

Evaluation: Against • It does not take any physical features into account.

Burgess' own case study - Chicago - does not follow the pattern because it is on the coast! The growth of any city will be influenced by the physical geography of the area.

• Transport is much more readily available allowing more people to commute Burgess could not have foreseen this.

• Urban renewal and gentrification has meant that some of the most expensive property can now be found in traditional 'low class' areas.

Hoyt

Explanation• Hoyt's model came nearly twenty years after Burgess’ (late 1930s)• It was based on 142 American cities. • He proposed his model after the introduction of public

transportation. • He suggested that the city grew in a series of sectors or 'wedges'. • An industrial sector would remain industrial as the zone would have

a common advantage - perhaps a railway line or river.• Note how the low quality housing is next to the industrial zone,

middle class next to low class and high class as far as possible from industry and low class.

Evaluation: For

• Some cities seem to follow Hoyt's sectors. • It provides us with an alternative set of

explanations to Burgess.• Communication routes (Rivers, roads,

railways) do often provide a very definite boundary to a sector/land-use.

Evaluation: Against• Like Burgess, there is no reference to out of

town developments.– ie: commuter towns which developed after the car

became popular

• Like Burgess, there is no reference to the physical environment.

Multiple Nuclei Model

Harris and Ullman’s Multiple Nuclei Theory

• 1945• As an urban area grows, it

develops around a number of different business centres or nuclei.

Multiple Nuclei Theory• Assumptions;• Modern cities more complex than suggested

by other theorists• Each nucleus acts as a growth point• Growth occurs outwards from each nucleus,

until they all merge into one large urban area

Evaluations For

• Mixture of Burgess and Hoyt

• Shows some land-uses attract more of the

same, for example industrial areas

• Some land-uses may deter others from

locating nearby, eg; housing is usually located

away from industrial areas

Evaluations Against

• Not an exact fit for all cities and

towns

• Too complex